Catalyst 8.1 officially released

A bit sooner then expected DAAMIT has released the new ATI Catalyst 8.1. Along with the usual fixes and improvements, ATI has implemented a whole new feature with its new Catalyst: OpenGL MultiView support.

The new Catalyst 8.1 supports all graphics cards from 9550 to the new HD 3800 series, and it is available for both Windows XP and Vista. The new Catalyst brings a new feature called MultiView support. This new feature will bring hardware accelerated OpenGL rendering over multiple graphics adapters and hardware accelerated 3D rendering with multiple graphics cards on an extended desktop arrangement. This will basically improve performance of 3D applications so they can run on a secondary or third display device in same performance as on the primary display device.

Fixes and tweaks in the 8.1 release include:

Bioshock: Flickering is no longer noticed during the cinematic introduction of the game.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2: Playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 3800 series of product no longer results in the game failing to the desktop when CrossFire™ is enabled.

F.E.A.R.: A black screen no longer occurs when the display is set to 2048x1536 and the in-game AA option is enabled.

Lightsmark 2007: Running the benchmark no longer results in the robot character not being drawn properly.

Oblivion: Task switching between the game and the Windows Vista desktop no longer results in corruption being noticed when AA is enabled.

Oblivion: Flickering is no longer noticed when first making a move if the in-game settings are set to maximum, CrossFire™ is enabled and AF is set to 16X.

Oblivion: The game no longer fails and display corruption is no longer noticed when the game is minimized to desktop and then restored.

World In Conflict: The game no longer fails to the Windows desktop when the display resolution is set to 1280x768 and AF is set to 16X.

Call of Juarez and Stalker and Timeshift: Launching the games under Windows XP no longer results in intermittent corruption or flashing being noticed.

TianJi: Logging into the game no longer results in the function buttons not working and the system setting window failing to open.

World of Warcraft: Launching two game windows and switching between the game windows on a system with an Apple 30-inch display device no longer results in the game image failing to be drawn properly.

Google SketchUP: the application no longer fails to launch on systems running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon HD 2900 series of product.

In addition, a hotfix is also being released to address issues that Radeon owners running AGP cards are having and some additional tweaks for Crysis in a DirectX 10 Crossfire configuration to enhance and optimize performance.

The new MultiView feature will be available for Windows XP 32bit and 64bit, Windows Vista 32bit and 64bit and Linux OS. As for the resolved issues, they don't include anything special. You can read the full release notes here.